Wall to wall hormones with 4 teenage daughters!

[Twinsmum2]

Great to see a discussion about teenagers; I was beginning to think that I was the only one logged into Mumsnet that had older children. While I appreciate that having babies and toddlers can cause concern at times, so can teenagers! We have two sets of girl twins, aged 18yrs and 15yrs and I often look back with affection to when we had 4 daughters under 3 and a quarter! I always say that things could be physically hard then-it used to take hours just to get out of the frontdoor sometimes-but I find that things are harder mentally now- wall to wall hormones in our house! Even our cats are female- no wonder my husband has become an expert gardener in the 22years since we've been married-it's been somewhere to escape to! We have brought the girls up to be individuals and that certainly shows sometimes.I suppose I notice the changes more than my husband over the years, but it used to be great when they went out to school at 8 and came home at 4. Then the older girls went to college[different ones] and all of a sudden there was a daughter around all the time.The dreaded GCSE's are striking again in the next few weeks, and then the younger two are off to college-I don't feel old enough to have children at secondary school, let alone left!Anyone else out there going through the same thing?wish me luck for the next few weeks, and make the most of those little ones- turn round and they,re taller than you!

Hi Twinsmum2
I have a 14yr old boy and a 15 yr old girl, they are only one year apart. I also look after a 3 and 7 year old (G & B) so it's a bit like having 2 then 2, I have loooked after them since the boy was 8 weeks old, I nanny/childmind them. At the moment they are fast asleep upstairs as both parents are abroad, in diferent countries! I am about to lose them as they are going to move to Switzerland, I don't know what to do, I am going to miss them so much, I've looked after them 5 days a week, 8-6, they are really like mine. I know what you mean about hormone city!! It's great though, one minute they're running round Hamley's (last weekend!) then they're all dressed up looking beyond their years. I'm glad to see someone with older children, though I can identify very strongly with everyone else.

I've got a teenager, too. She's 14 this month. I've also survived two other teenagers, boys both in their twenties now and have a 5 yr old daughter, to keep me on my toes!

The teenage years do bring problems but I really like that stage. Children are so much fun and so interesting as they develop and mature and I've had a great deal of pleasure from that stage of their upbringing. It makes me sad to read or hear people saying "Just wait until they're teenagers, then you'll have sleepless nights." etc. Its such a negative message to both parents and teenagers.

I do agree with you, Chairmum, teenagers can still be pleasant, and so far, we have had no major problems. I would really like to see 5years ahead to see what they will all be doing then[ without wishing their lives away]In fact, just to get through to the end of June will be great, so I can stop 'nagging'[ encouraging] about them not doing enough revising. You certainly had your family well spread out!

Ah, yes, I remember the revision days well. DS1 thought study leave was for resting, not studying. He was also known as 'Forty Free Periods'in 6th year as he claimed he didn't have to attend any classes, even though he was still at school. But in fact, he got better grades in 6th yr than in 5th, so he must have done some work when I wasn't looking. :-)

DD1 will be sitting Standard Grades (Scots=GCSE) in two years time. At the moment, I don't think she will be too stressed about them, though she did come home in a flap about French and Physics tests today, so who knows? Still, we'll cross that bridge when/if we come to it.

Yes, we have spread our family out well. It wasn't particularly intentional, just happened that way!